{"id":9182,"date":"2000-12-01T00:11:38","date_gmt":"2000-11-30T22:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=9182"},"modified":"2019-05-14T12:39:25","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T09:39:25","slug":"12-01-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/12-01-11\/","title":{"rendered":"11. To Enjoy and Bring Joy to Others"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mitzva of sim\u1e25a<\/em> requires a man to include his entire family in his enjoyment, and to include the poor and despondent as well. This is not just a pious act, but is the sim\u1e25a<\/em> required by the Torah: \u201cYou shall rejoice in your festival with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow in your communities\u201d (Devarim 16:14; see also 16:11).[6]<\/a><\/sup> Rambam codifies this as follows:<\/p>\n

One who is eating and drinking [on a festival] is obligated to feed the stranger, the orphan, and the widow as well, along with the rest of the wretched poor. If one locks the doors of his home and eats and drinks with his wife and children, but does not feed the poor and embittered, he is not experiencing the sim\u1e25a<\/em> of a mitzva, but only the sim\u1e25a<\/em> of his gut. About such people the verse says: \u201cIt will be like mourners\u2019 bread \u2013 all who eat of it will be impure\u201d (Hoshea 9:4). Such sim\u1e25a<\/em> is an embarrassment to them, as it says: \u201cI will strew dung upon your faces, the dung of your festival offerings\u201d (Malachi 2:3). (MT, Laws of Yom Tov 6:18; similar statements appear in Magid Mishneh<\/em> ad loc<\/em>. and Sefer Ha-mitzvot<\/em>, Aseh<\/em> \u00a754)<\/p>\n

When we examine this issue, we see that the mitzva of sim\u1e25a<\/em> has two components. The first is to celebrate together with one\u2019s family and household members: \u201cYou shall rejoice in your festival with your son and daughter\u201d (Devarim 16:14). The \u201cyou\u201d here includes both members of a couple, because a husband and wife are considered one unit. In fact, when the Torah speaks more briefly of this sim\u1e25a<\/em>, only the wife is mentioned: \u201cRejoice with your household\u201d (Devarim 14:26, as explained above). This teaches us that a husband\u2019s mitzva of sim\u1e25a<\/em> is first and foremost to make his wife happy. Similarly, a wife\u2019s primary responsibility of sim\u1e25a<\/em> is to make her husband happy. We find this in practice as well, as follows. A man\u2019s primary enjoyment is through the festive meals, which traditionally his wife would prepare for him; while a woman\u2019s primary enjoyment is through new clothes or jewelry, which traditionally her husband would buy for her.<\/p>\n

As a couple, they then have the responsibility to include the rest of the household members in their enjoyment, as there is no sim\u1e25a<\/em> on the festival without family participation. Indeed, all Jews customarily celebrate the festivals together with their families. Every family member must make efforts to maintain an atmosphere of good feeling throughout the festival, especially during the meals. This includes refraining from saying hurtful things and making efforts to be friendly and bring joy to everyone at the table. Through this, they will be privileged to experience true sim\u1e25a<\/em>. (See below, section 17 and n. 9, about whether it is permissible to leave one\u2019s family for the festival in order to spend the time with one\u2019s rabbi.)<\/p>\n

Some Jews are influenced by secular culture, which is estranged from family values and the sanctity of the festival. Consequently, they find their family festival celebrations burdensome and frustrating, leading to tensions, hurt feelings, and fights. The more these Jews improve their understanding of family values and the sanctity of the festival, the easier they will find it to avoid hurting their relatives and to compliment them and make them happy. Thus they will be privileged to experience the blessing of the festivals with joy and peace.<\/p>\n

The second component of the mitzva of sim\u1e25a<\/em> is to bring joy to one\u2019s neighbors and acquaintances who are poor or lonely. As the verse states: \u201cYou shall rejoice in your festival with\u2026the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow in your communities\u201d (Devarim 16:14). Generally speaking, in the past the orphan and widow were poor as well, since there was no one to provide for them. As for the \u201cstranger,\u201d a convert who has left his birthplace and family is likely to suffer from loneliness. The mitzva to provide sim\u1e25a<\/em> to the poor is fulfilled primarily by giving them charity, and the mitzva to provide sim\u1e25a<\/em> to the lonely and broken-hearted is fulfilled primarily by inviting them to join the festival meals.<\/p>\n

It is noteworthy that the Torah commands us to include the Kohanim and Levi\u2019im in our sim\u1e25a<\/em>. Their job was to teach and educate the Jewish people, both young and old. We can infer that today too, we should provide sim\u1e25a<\/em> to Torah scholars and teachers (Binyan Shlomo<\/em> 1:33).<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n[6]<\/a>. We find this requirement throughout the Torah. For example, regarding the sim\u1e25a<\/em> experienced upon bringing tithes and offerings in which one obligated himself, the verse states: \u201cYou shall rejoice before the Lord your God with your sons and daughters and male and female slaves, along with the Levite in your settlements, for he has no territorial allotment among you\u201d (Devarim 12:12). Similarly, regarding the sim\u1e25a<\/em> of bringing the first fruit (bikurim<\/em>), we read: \u201cYou shall enjoy, together with the Levite and the stranger in your midst, all the bounty that the Lord your God has bestowed upon you and your household\u201d (Devarim 26:11).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mitzva of sim\u1e25a requires a man to include his entire family in his enjoyment, and to include the poor and despondent as well. This is not just a pious act, but is the sim\u1e25a required by the Torah: \u201cYou shall rejoice in your festival with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12-01"],"yoast_head":"\n11. 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